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In reply to:>> 3. Only Vendors who pay for advertising at the shroomery can post in the Vendor forum or promote their products anywhere on this website.

I think this is the right move to make. I suggested to Thor to change the name from "Vendors" Forum to "Sponsors" Forum.

If someone wants to exploit The Shroomery for financial gain then why wouldn't The Shroomery ask the same in return.

This could potentially be a windfall for The Shroomery, forcing the hold-out vendors to start footing part of the bill around here.

Why shouldn't the sponsors who are currently paying the bills for this place to exist not be rewarded for their efforts.

The Shroomery is the Big Kahoona of mushroom sites, why would a vendor not want to run a banner ad? The rates are not unreasonable, in fact they are low enough for a succesful vendor to easily surpass in profit margin. Besides that it's also a write-off as a business expense. Why would anybody have a problem with this?

It's real simple: you wan't to play, you have to pay. It works out beneficially for everyone involved.

I personally think it's an all around bad idea. My opinion is that vendors who participate in the community are doing the community a service by their simple presence here. They are taking their time and effort to keep us updated with what's going on in the world of mycology supplies. This is a great service to the community and we would be harmed greatly if we were to loose this service.

And what exactly constitutes promoting ones products? Let's say I have a question for a non-paying vendor, where do I post it? Well, the vendor forum would make sense, but no, they won't be able to answer it there because they can't post there at all. Perhaps in one of the cult forums? nope it'd be off topic, and even at that the vendor would be accused of promoting his product outside of the vendor forum which he can't post in. Even if vendors were allowed to discuss their products/services in other forums, anytime a question was posted by a (relatively) unknown member, suspicions of sock pupeteering would imediately be raised. Effectively, anyone who in any way participates in any type of mycological commerce would be practically perma-banned. This would include people like MJ who is a vendor of mushroom related supplies, but who doesn't own a banner. Is anyone seriously thinking this through, or did it just seem like a good idea?

I see no good way around this issue without damaging the community. Remember, this is a community, not a business. WE paid for the new server, with the help of the vendors. And that's exactly how any further money should be raised. By community residents in concert with community businesses. Not by censorship of valid important information which is good for the community.
Please resist the .com urges
I recomend a serious reconsideration.

I just looked at my profile and realized I had a website at one point in time on geocities, it's not there anymore and I have no idea what I had on it. Anybody remember my website from several years aga? PM if so please.

In reply to:I was very surprised at this. I understand some positive effects that this might have on the community as a whole in regards to some vendors posts that I have seen recently but I am more worried about the simplier vendor announcements. Will this stop the non-paying vendors from saying pretty much anything about their business in the forum? Like, if a non-paying vendor wants to tell the community of a recent special it is hosting for "X" weeks do you feel it is fair to charge them for something as simple as this. I brought this up quickly in the chat room and somebody commented that it is fair that the vendors who make money off this community should have to pay. However, I felt as if this didn't really hold true. It's not like were the only mushroom community around and that this is the only place that vendors sell products from.

Yes, if you don't support the shroomery why should you be able to use it as your own personal place to promote your business. I think people are not realizing just how much money some of these vendors make monthly, believe me for most of them buying a banner is damn cheap.

The reasoning is also for those who do support the shroomery with a banner, how is it fair for them to buy a banner when others can just post like crazy and not pay a cent to the site they get much of their business from.

In reply to:Also, maybe I am just misunderstanding a few things because of your wording. It reads that "Only Vendors who pay... may post in the Vendor forum. Does this even include non-flaming comments on other vendors threads?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but if a vendor who doesn't pay for a banner posts something to promote their products it will not be allowed. Vendors who don't pay can post to help people of course, but if they promote their own products it will not be allowed.

In reply to:Also, "...or promote their products anywhere on this website." Would this include the non graphical links to their websites in signatures or non-vendor members who promote such products/websites?

Right now we are allowing links to their websites for those vendors who do pay for a banner. We are discussing possible other changes to the signature situation.

I think that those of you who may think Vendors can't afford a monthly banner just don't realize how much money vendors make in a month. I'd say a safe bet would be around $500-$2000 a Week depending on the vendor.

I think its very reasonable that if you make money off the shroomery that you spend some money to support it.

This was not done to attract more sponsors, it was simply done because its fair and reasonable to all concerned.

Hey Gent, not to tout my own horn but I grew up with a father who ran his own business, made a few thousand dollars off my first business venture on my 18th birthday and about 2 1/2 yrs ago started a company in Iceland with my brother & father.

From the start I saw that this place could make money, but that was never why I took the job. Honestly I just wanted to ensure this place lived on, the money making aspect of it is of course a bonus

I just don't think you should assume I don't know much about business, I am almost finished my bcomm degree and I currently am involved in ownership of a small business in Iceland.